Intra-operative brain mapping in glioma surgery

Mapping of cortical and subcortical functional pathways is a mainstay of modernglioma surgery that allows the neurosurgeon to maximize the extent of resection whiledecreasing the risk of permanent neurological morbidity. Intraoperative direct corticalstimulation remains the gold standard for localization of motor and language circuits.However, the recent development of preoperative adjuncts such asmagnetoencephalography, diffusion tensor imaging, and transcranial magneticstimulation are becoming increasingly important for improving the accuracy andefficiency of localizing critical functional circuits during glioma surgery.